Two outta three ain’t bad. The BC Lions took care of business in Montreal Thursday night, prevailing 38-18 to improve their record to 4-2 on the season. Jonathon Jennings had a phenomenal outing, completing 27 of 32 passes for 331 yards and a beautiful touchdown pass to Manny Arceneaux.
The Leos also improved to 3-1 on the road and assured themselves of getting four of six points on their three-game stretch away from BC Place. “Guys just game to play, “Jennings said. “We still left some things out there which is fine when we win like that, but we want to start progressing each week and getting even better.”
The game’s big turning point came on the opening play of the 4th quarter when Loucheiz Purifoy returned a fumble 47-yards for a touchdown to put the visitors up by twelve. They never looked back.
“You can tell it took the air out of all of them”, Purifoy said. “They started getting in a groove and all of a sudden it just shut them down. It’s a great confidence booster. Man down, man up. That’s what we’ve been preaching all year.”
The Lions other major of the night came on a four-yard run by Jeremiah Johnson, his first as a member of the Leos. He finished with 74 yards on 15 carries in his first appearance since suffering an ankle injury in week two at Hamilton.
With this win, they remain one point behind the first-place Calgary Stampeders in the West division. The Stamps took down Saskatchewan 35-15 in the second game of the double header on Thursday night.
Quotables
“Coach dialled my number on the goal line. It’s something we ran in practice this week and I was ready to make a play. They called a defence that we thought they would be in and we caught ‘em slippin.’ It was about me holding on to the ball. The angry bird celebration was for Hebert because he tried to interrupt it.”- Arceneuax on his acrobatic touchdown catch while being hit in the end zone.
“It was exciting and it happened early too, so Alex Bazzie kept me humble and just said ‘let’s keep going.’ That was awesome. It makes me hungry. It’s a great opportunity to be out here and play alongside these guys.” Andrew Hudson on notching his first career sack.
Bake’s Takes
Major props to a defensive line that picked up six sacks on Alouettes QB Kevin Glenn. As mentioned, they were depleted with the likes of Mic’hael Brooks, Craig Roh and David Menard, who are sidelined due to injury. You need to have depth in this league, and it’s a credit to Wally Buono and his staff that they were able to fill it to their advantage. Bazzie added to his team-leading total of six QB takedowns. The unit is ferocious.
What can we say about Jennings? He has made a habit of bouncing back after tough losses, and this result was as textbook as you can get. All seven of his receivers who made the score sheet had more than one catch.
Hat tip to Ryan Phillips on career game number 200. He is the sixth member of the Lions to accomplish that feat and the fact he is still performing at such a high level is a testament to his character. He is one of the all-time franchise greats.
As was made clear on all of the club’s social media channels early Friday morning, the Lions were unable to fly home immediately following the game due to a mechanical issue. Arrangements were made for the roster, staff and 50 fans travelling on Operation Orange to stay at a hotel across town from Montreal Mirabel Airport. The best part? There was not one complaint from anybody. Players were smiling, laughing and having a good time. Oh, and upon returning to the Mirabel Terminal Friday afternoon, where we encountered another delay of about 90 minutes, an impromptu jam session broke out. Get a load of this!
Sure it’s easy to stay positive after a win like that, but it was also a sign of just how close this team is. It was very impressive.
Next up: the long awaited return home to face Hamilton on Saturday, August 13th. The first 5,000 fans will receive a complimentary Adam Bighill bobblehead.
Full highlights below:
Matt Baker: mbaker@bclions.com